My ReelTalk recorder didn’t quite catch the first few minutes of the show, but what Bill undoubtedly spent that time talking about was the California State Automobile Association’s press release that they had seen only a 1% to 2% mileage decrease, not the 5%-10% decrease that some tests have shown, and that many callers to this show have reported.
During the first call on my tape, Bill stated that CSAA did not report their actual test results, or how the mileage was measured, and had not provided this information even after being asked to by Bill, nor would they name the person who supposedly compiled the data. Additionally, he has been told by six employees of CSAA that their own calculations showed a 6%-9% reduction in mileage (presumably for their own cars, independently of CSAA).
In a later call, Bill stated that insiders in Sacramento report that the public relations people from CARB “believe that they will wear you down no matter how much time it takes”, until the public and the legislature stop complaining. He also said that the managers at CSAA that he talked to stated that they didn’t think the data from the cars they were using was sent to anyone that could have reported the data.
Anne in Davis asked about a whole-wheat hazelnut bread she buys, that starts generating heat after opening it. Bill’s best guess is that there was still some yeast left in the bread, along with the fermentation process it produces. That process produces heat, and will mold if she leaves it out, but not if she places it in a paper bag. You might be interested to know that the yeast used for bread making is also commonly used for different alcoholic brews, and is called saccharomyces cerevisiae. Anne also said she had heard that some people can get intoxicated from bread. This can actually occur, because the fermentation process produces alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2). The baking process usually consumes the alcohol, though.
One of the first callers in the second hour was apparently from the Sierra Club, and wanted to explain why the tunnel was a better solution than a roadway bypass through Montera Mountain. But instead of talking about the tunnel itself, he wandered among a number of subjects, including the discoverers of San Francisco Bay, Indian tribes from the 1700’s that resided on Montera Mountain, and Altamont pass (nowhere near Devil’s Slide, or even the coast). The whole issue is too complex to cover by describing this call, though, so the issue will be covered in a separate section of this site, later.
Neil (a 9th-grader -- finally, kids again!) in Morgan Hill had two questions. Before he got started, though, a commercial cut in, interrupting their conversation. This happened recently on a national talk show, and that host reported that the commercials were keyed to an automated system triggered by a specific audio frequency, and that some people’s voices just happen to produce this frequency with enough volume and duration, occasionally, to trigger the equipment. Well, she didn’t say all of that, but it’s about the only plausible deduction. You can also deduce that the particular frequency is either extremely high or extremely low so as to not be heard by us humans listening to the broadcast, yet also within the range of the studio equipment, and, assuming the same thing happened here, also within the frequency range of the telephone system.
The first was why, if there is no air pressure in space, why pressurized spaceships don’t explode. The answer is that the ship’s structure must be strong enough to resist the pressure.
He also wanted to know the address for Governor Pete Wilson’s Web site. His web site is part of the official California State government page, which can be found at http://www.ca.gov/ -- which has some other interesting and useful information itself. Check out, for instance, there is a link to a state bulletin on diesel and gasoline prices. There is a whole bunch of historical data buried beneath this link which I’ll document elsewhere, but read the latest bulletins there, and note the difference between current production of the new reformulated gas and the demand.
In response to another caller, Bill stated that CSAA officials admitted to him that they weren’t even sure they were comparing the old gas to the new gas when they reported their claims earlier this week that their mileage reduction was on the order of 1%. Specifically, they weren’t sure that what they thought was old gas was actually old gas. Keep in mind that small percentage differences (1-2%) are not uncommon between different batches or samples of gas. In fact, some of CARB’s own testing procedures specify how to obtain a sample from a storage tank to ensure the sample accurately represents the average mixture in the tank, even though there may be several levels with slightly different compositions (and thus densities) in the tank.
Pat in Antioch reported that there appears to be a technical method of testing auto exhaust emissions without generating an official pass/fail test, which would initiate costly repair and re-testing procedures, so that someone may ensure their car is functioning correctly, or is repaired to function correctly, so that the first “real” test is passed. There was a bit of confusion, though, over whether or not this was actually true, and I hope a smog testing technician familiar with the rules can call into one of Bill’s next shows and report if anything like a manual test can be performed.
Guy in Marina Valley is a retired mechanic, and does tests for his neighbors to help them pass the smog tests. He had a rather interesting statement. He has apparently seen several cases where cars which were tested before the new gas was distributed (say, between January and approximately April of this year), and then re-tested more recently with the new gas, that the pollution measured by the smog test machines, and recorded on the printout, was higher with the new gas.
If you want to attempt to duplicate this, he said, your car was tested within the above mentioned time frame, and you still have the printout, get your car tested again, with the cheapest smog test you can find (it should be $9.95 or $14.95—you don’t need a certificate).
For a 1986 through 1992 vehicle, he has seen the measured pollution of hydrocarbons increase between 5 and 10 times, as measured with the new gas over the old gas. No, not 5 or 10 percent -- 5 to 10 times would be represented as 500 percent to 1000 percent!
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